U.N. Committee's Unjust Grilling of the Holy See

The Holy See was grilled by the U.N. committee on torture today and, as expected, it came in for some harsh and extrinsic criticism for the Church's handling of clerical sex abuse cases.

In the two-hour hearing in Geneva, the Committee Against Torture launched a barrage of questions to the Vatican delegation, asking about past policy decisions, the juridical distinction between the Holy See and Vatican City, and information on specific cases, according to Reuters.

But many of the questions went beyond the boundaries of the U.N. Convention against Torture. The Holy See also signed up to the Convention on grounds that it would apply only to the territory of Vatican City, not the wider Church.

Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Holy See's permanent observer to the U.N. in Geneva, said while the Holy See can be a moral force, the "agent of justice" for crimes committed by Catholics was the local state where the crime was committed. "It should be stressed, particularly in light of much confusion, that the Holy See has no jurisdiction ... over every member of the Catholic Church," he said in opening remarks.

But as this committee is heavily influenced by NGOs ideologically opposed to the Church's teaching, this important caveat was brushed aside by some members of the panel. The committee's chief rapporteur, Felice Gaer of the United States, told the Vatican delegation that its position "seems to reflect an intention for a significant portion of the actions and omissions of Holy See officials be excluded from consideration by this committee, and this troubles us."

Gaer and another panel member presented dozens of questions from ideologically opposed NGOs, many if not all of them falling outside the scope of the Convention. You can get an idea of the kind of questions they asked by looking at 'shadow reports' here (click on CAT - Convention against Torture and Other... and then 'Reporting Cycle'). Particularly antagonistic NGOs include the Center for Reproductive Rights and the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. Three NGOs have submitted shadow reports defending the Church. A particularly strong one has been written by Catholic Voices here, while the Atlanta-based Solidarity Center for Law and Justice effectively warns the CAT to steer clear of criticising the Holy See.

Archbishop Tomasi gave the following comments to Vatican Radio this afternoon, further explaining the Holy See's position:

“The delegation of the Holy See presented its point of view and emphasized first of all that the Convention has been signed and ratified by the Holy See on behalf - and only on behalf - of the Vatican City State. In this way, the implementation of the Convention under the responsibility of the Holy See, applies to the territory of Vatican City State.

Obviously, some people don’t agree with this statement because they feel that the authority of the Holy See extends to the institutions and the persons of the Catholic Church at large. But from a juridical point of view, this is not accurate and there is an important distinction to be kept in mind between a juridical responsibility and a moral, spiritual, pastoral responsibility.

Then, the members of the Committee raised a series of questions that deal with specific cases that happened in different countries of the world for which they would like to have explanations and accurate information. Mostly, (these are) cases of sexual abuse of minors on the part of personnel working for the Church and the assumption it seems at work in this situation (is) that the Holy See is directly responsible for the behavior of every priest and of every employee of any Church institution in the world which of course is not the case.

And then, I must underline the fact that the Chairman of the Committee has tried to be very fair, pointing out the good actions and measures - legal and pastoral I would say - undertaken by the Church in the last few years. And at the same time, he also posed some questions that need to be answered.

At the moment we are reflecting and preparing the conclusions to be presented tomorrow, giving as much information as we can so that the objective of this exercise, the protection of people from abusive and humiliating behavior, may be realized. So from this point of view, the Holy See is happy to collaborate with the Committee but at the same time, it will probably not accept that the Committee goes beyond its boundaries into areas that belong to other committees like the Committee of the Convention of the Rights of the Child and at the same time, maintain a civilized climate of dialogue with every member of this Committee.”

For more background on the Committee hearings, whose final report will be published on May 23, see my earlier article here.

Comments

@Patricia
That does not make sense. If I donate to the Red Cross, does that make the Red Cross responsible for an unrelated crime committed by me? Of course not. For the same reason, Catholic parishes donating to the Holy See does not make the Holy See responsible for crimes by priests outside the Vatican.

Posted by Patricia on Wednesday, May 7, 2014 4:40 PM (EDT):

I think the Holy See wants to tell everyone what to do but not be responsible for anything. Why doesn’t the Pope go to the Geneva conference and speak for himself? Why are Catholic parishes worldwide donating money to the Pope every year (Peter’s Pence) if the Holy See is only responsible for what happens in Vatican City? I think the Holy See, the Vatican and the Catholic Church need to reinvent themselves and adopt something called integrity.

@Roxanne
You might not be aware of, but the Catholic Church is not a country. Catholics live in every country of the Earth. Each Catholic is governed in secular matters by the laws of his own country.

Posted by charles on Tuesday, May 6, 2014 9:32 AM (EDT):

Time to pull out of these treaties, especially if NGOs that are opposed to church teaching are allowed to use the premise of these treaties with the UN that the Vatican has, to fire away at the church.
Obviously, somebody has an agenda here and is pushing one Felice Gaer to pursue this strategy. She visited the Vatican in 2010 as part of an official trip by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, so perhaps it would be prudent not to invite her back.

Posted by MarytheDefender on Tuesday, May 6, 2014 2:36 AM (EDT):

I’m doing a law Thesis on the earlier UN vs Holy See issue regarding the Committee on the Rights of the Child. I understand why people are upset that the Holy See signed the Convention as a representative of merely the Vatican City State and not the Church. Naturally, it would be better if it were implemented throughout the Catholic Church worldwide.

But legally this isn’t the case. Yes the Holy See functions as both the governing body of the Vatican State and the Catholic Church. But its authority over the Catholic Church is an ecclesiastical authority. It is not a secular-legal authority. Hence, the Catholic Church can only implement ecclesiastical sanctions on errant priests like dismissal from the priesthood and not legal sanctions like imprisonments etc. If the Holy See acted like an ordinary State in the various countries where the Catholic Church is present, there would be a conflict of jurisdiction. That is why it is important for the Catholic Church to cooperate with with States in addressing the sexual abuse crisis etc. As a legal entity within that State, the Catholic Church can and should help the legal authorities in those countries address this issue.

Posted by Tom in AZ on Monday, May 5, 2014 11:18 PM (EDT):

@Judy Jones: Name some specific cases. Seriously, name ONE case.

Posted by chrisw on Monday, May 5, 2014 10:53 PM (EDT):

No, the Church does not GOVERN the faithful. From the Catechism…
1897 “Human society can be neither well-ordered nor prosperous unless it has some people invested with legitimate authority to preserve its institutions and to devote themselves as far as is necessary to work and care for the good of all.”
By “authority” one means the quality by virtue of which persons or institutions make laws and give orders to men and expect obedience from them.
1898 “Every human community needs an authority to govern it. The foundation of such authority lies in human nature. It is necessary for the unity of the state. Its role is to ensure as far as possible the common good of the society.”
I think it’s plain the Church recognizes the role of Governance. The only place where the Church “governs” as a geopolitical body is the Vatican. Moral authority and teaching is another matter, but teaching the faith, preaching, administering the Sacraments, and the untold number of other functions performed daily in parish life are not functions of a governing body.

Posted by Judy Jones on Monday, May 5, 2014 10:44 PM (EDT):

quoted by Tomasi, “Measures undertaken in the last 10 years on the part both of the Holy See and local churches are bringing about a positive result.”——

So then, why are cardinals and bishops still not removing accused predator clergy, and they are still not reporting to law enforcement? Their so called “zero tolerance” policy is not being followed by the bishops who created it. They don’t have to, because there is no punishment to force the bishops to change their ways of protecting their power and the institution rather than protecting innocent children. Not one bishop or cardinal has been defrocked, removed or disciplined for their crimes of enabling and empowering child predators to sexual abuse children. Tragically this is why the sex abuse and cover up within the church hierarchy throughout the world is still going on to this day.

Plus the only reason Tomasi claims the Holy See was getting it’s house in order for the last 10 years is because of the brave victims who speak up and take action to expose the ugly truth so that children will be safe today.

Vatican church officials have tough questions to answer by well informed members of the UN Committee Against Torture, Tuesday May 6, 9-am to 12 noon EST.
Judy Jones, SNAP, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

Posted by Mark on Monday, May 5, 2014 7:22 PM (EDT):

I think the official response of the church is truly tragic, giving more reason for the faithful to lose confidence in the leaders of our faith, to do what is MORALLY RIGHT. Yes it is true the Vatican is a very small STATE, governed by the Pope and the curia of the Vatican, BUT these same men also govern Catholics throughout the world….The Pope is not simply the Head of State of some foreign land. He is the spiritual leader of millions of Catholics worldwide. This jurisdictional claim can hardly hold water when the Pope can act to dismiss a Bishop (Bishop Bling of Germany for spending 46 million dollars to renovate his rectory) in a foreign land when he has squandered money. But when the offense is committed against a child, our very precious resource more important than church dollars, our church now claims it holds no jurisdictional right to act against clergy who harm or hid the abuse. That is so disheartening to so many Catholics, I cannot believe Bishop Tomasi, Vatican officials or even the Holy Father can’t see how this position harms our church and erodes the foundation of trust the faithful have had in our church? Truly disheartening.

Posted by Roxanne on Monday, May 5, 2014 4:47 PM (EDT):

So, the Pope signed a document to protect only the Vatican City? Catholics in other countries don’t have to comply? What a Bullsh*t contract!!!

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About Edward Pentin

Edward Pentin began reporting on the Pope and the Vatican with Vatican Radio before moving on to become the Rome correspondent for the National Catholic Register. He has also reported on the Holy See and the Catholic Church for a number of other publications including Newsweek, Newsmax,Zenit, The Catholic Herald, and The Holy Land Review, a Franciscan publication specializing in the Church and the Middle East. Follow on Twitter @edwardpentin